Facts to Know

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1. Macular degeneration is the leading cause of severe vision loss among people age 65 and older, according to the National Eye Institute.

2. The National Eye Institute reported in 1997 that age-related macular degeneration causes visual impairment in an estimated 1.7 million of the 34 million Americans over age 65.

3. The greatest risk factor for macular degeneration is being age 65 or older.

4. Women are at slightly greater risk than are men for developing macular degeneration, according to the National Eye Institute.

5. According to the National Eye Institute, although only about 10 percent of people with macular degeneration have the wet form of the disease, it causes 90 percent of all severe vision loss from the disease.

6. About 90 percent of people who have macular degeneration have the dry form of the disease, which has no effective treatment.

7. Only about 15 percent of wet macular degeneration patients are candidates for laser surgery because the spreading abnormal blood vessels have advanced too close to the part of the macula on which visual images are focused, according to the National Eye Institute. Photodynamic therapy with verteporfin (a medication) treatment may be an option for patients in whom the abnormal blood vessels extend underneath the central macula or fovea.

8. Macular degeneration does not cause total blindness. Although central vision can be severely affected or lost, peripheral vision remains.

9. The Age-Related Eye Diseases Study, sponsored by the National Eye Institute, found that antioxidant supplements, combined with zinc and copper, can reduce the risk of intermediate or early advanced AMD progressing to advanced AMD by 25 percent.

10. Macular degeneration has no cure.